News
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World-renowned reefs, fish destroyed by dynamite
KRABI: The diving community along the Andaman coast is in an uproar after fishermen used dynamite to blast fish around the famed coral reefs at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, destroying both the reefs and the marine life around them. Both sites are underwater mountains in Koh Lanta National Park. Hin Daeng, which has a peak that pokes above the…
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Vendor arrested for selling protected fish
PHUKET TOWN: A vendor has been arrested for selling protected fish species at the Rassada Pier today, just days after Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising lodged an official complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about gaps in the law that allow many arrested for illegal fishing to walk free. Acting on a tip-off, the Marine Police and officers from the Provincial…
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60,000 nabbed in clean-up
BANGKOK (AFP): Almost 60,000 people were arrested in the first three months of the ongoing crackdown on Bangkok’s after-hours nightspots, brothels and gambling dens, police said today. Thai police spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the crackdown had resulted in 24,867 cases involving 58,894 people. Some 8,621 people were caught betting in Thailand’s huge underground lottery while 540 people were busted for…
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Police step up festive season security
PATONG: Police will tonight launch a campaign to improve tourists’ safety over the festive season by beefing up the police presence on the street. The campaign will run until January 15. A task force of 100 officers, drawn from Phuket’s Tourist, Marine and Highway Police as well as officers from Kathu Police Station, will assemble at 8 pm tonight at…
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Health Office Chief transferred
PHUKET: Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of Phuket’s Provincial Health Office (PHO), has been reassigned to an equivalent post in the northern province of Uttaradit. His transfer will take effect on January 24. Replacing him will be Dr Wanchai Sattayawutitong, currently the Director of the International Health Division of the Office of the Permanent Secretary in Bangkok. Dr Boonrieng told the…
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Judgment soon on murder suspect’s sanity
PHUKET: Specialists at the Suan Saranlom Hospital in Surat Thani say that by the end of this month they will be able to form a judgment as to whether murder suspect Siwadol “Dol” Lomin is insane or not. Dol is the prime suspect in the murder of popular Koh Yao long-tail boatman Bangsen Jaidee, 52, whose body was found floating…
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Cabinet slashes visas on arrival
BANGKOK (AFP, Gazette): The cabinet decided at a meeting yesterday to axe 81 nations from a list of 97 whose citizens may obtain a 15-day tourist visa on arrival. The new list of 16 is expected to be brought into force about a month from now. Citizens from the countries chopped off the list will then have to obtain a…
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Boom in business registrations
PHUKET: The latest statistics on business registrations show that business people on the island are not nearly as pessimistic as might be thought, given the global downturn and the expected effects of the September 11 atrocities. In fact, the numbers from the Phuket Commercial Registration Office (CRO) show, there has been an increase in new business registrations. Veerachai Tantiwathanavallop, Director…
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Senator pushes for action on illegal fishing
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising yesterday lodged an official complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about a loophole in the law that allows people to catch certain protected species of fish with impunity. In his complaint, Senator Paiboon said that even though many people are arrested for illegal fishing, they are released because of gaps in the law, or…
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All-night opening for Christmas, New Year
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Police announced today that, as in previous years, entertainment venues may stay open from Christmas Eve until 6 am on Christmas Day, and from New Year’s Eve until 6 am on New Year’s Day. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette, “All entertainment venues will be allowed to trade through…
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Gov backs away from Phi Phi row
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi today backed away from his controversial suggestion that the national government should buy out existing businesses on the Phi Phi islands and run the islands as a state enterprise. Addressing a press conference, the Governor said, laughing, “I don’t want to talk about this. I just wanted to shed some light on the subject. “I…
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Seminar identifies greatest threats to Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: The greatest threat to Phuket’s continued success as a top tourist destination is not a lack of planning, but the fact that few plans are put into action and, when they are, there is a lack of supervision or enforcement. That was the clear message from the majority of speakers in yesterday’s seminar on “The Prospects for Land…
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Meeting slams illegal Korean tour guides
PHUKET TOWN: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi today spearheaded an attack on the problem of illegal Korean tour guides at a high-level political meeting. The meeting, at the Phuket Provincial Hall, brought together MPs from the Parliamentary Tourism Committee and local tourism officials. “Thai guides have complained that Koreans have become the real guides, Gov Pongpayome said, “while the Thai guides…
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Australia road show “a big success’
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Road Show in Australia earlier this month was a great success, Panu Massirat, a member of the Phuket Tourism Association and organizer of the road show, said today. “As soon as I got back to Phuket, I got more than 10 phone calls from tour agencies in Australia asking me about tourism in Phuket, and the…
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Teenagers reenact Ao Nang killing
KRABI: The three teenagers accused of the murder of German tourist Petra Sack on Ao Nang Beach two weeks ago took part yesterday in a reenactment of the crime. But despite one of them retracing his flight from the scene, during which, he told police, he had lost the knife used to stab Ms Sack, police were unable to find…
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A false sense of security
PHUKET TOWN: This year has not been a good one for 47-year-old security guard Pirat Rungpian, from Nakhon Pathom. After six years of robbing businesses he was supposed to be protecting, his career in crime finally came to a halt after a wheel fell off. Literally. Pirat was arrested in Nakhon Sawan on Friday on a charge of attempted robbery…
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Three confess to Ao Nang murder – police
KRABI: Police have arrested three construction workers from Amphur Chaoud, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, who, they say, have confessed to stabbing 33-year-old German tourist Petra Sack on Ao Nang Beach on November 28 at Ao Nang. Miss Sack died four hours after the stabbing. Two of the three were arrested on Sunday. One, a 16-year-old, was found in Songkhla, where he…
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Police seek better photos of mob leaders
THALANG: Police have been unable to issue warrants for the arrests of people suspected of being involved in a mob three weeks ago at the Yacht Haven marina because the pictures they have are not clear enough for positive identification. The mob beat up Kent Michalick, a member of the crew of the superyacht Yanneke Too and trashed the pick-up…
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Regatta ends on windless note
KATA: The 15th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta ended with a whimper rather than a bang when the final day’s racing was canceled for lack of wind – the second such windless day in the six-day event. As a result, the seven class awards were made on the basis of races completed by the end of Friday, as follows: Racing: 1.…
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Patong upgrade to town status delayed
PATONG: Patong Mayor Surasak Maneesri has blamed the previous local administration for a lack of progress in getting the town’s status upgraded from tessabaan tambon (village) to tessaban muang (town). In February last year, local government officials estimated that the application process would take eight months to a year to complete. But, said Mayor Surasak, “The Ministry of Interior has…
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Deputy PM calls for traffic-free Bangla
PATONG: Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intrawitayanunt, who is also Minister for Tourism, conducted an inspection tour of Patong on foot last night to investigate the possibility of converting part of the beach road and all of Soi Bangla into a pedestrian zone at weekends. The proposed L-shaped zone would cover about 1.5 kilometers of road, starting from the Phuket Cabana…
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Casino boss gambles on nudists
BANGKOK (AFP): Senator Vikrom Isiri, the entrepreneur who built the Andaman Club casino and hotel on Myanmar’s Son island, close to Ranong, now plans to build a nudist colony on the nearby island of St Luke’s. The Nation newspaper reported that the resort will cater to Europeans who “like to take their clothes off in public”. “Everybody [guests] will have…
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Panellists announced for Phuket Seminar
The hosts of the 14 December seminar on “The Prospects for Land Resource Management and Tourism in Phuket” have announced speakers from both the public and private sectors. Travelling from Bangkok for the occasion will be: – Rajatin Syamananda, Director-General, Town & Country Planning Dept – Thasanee Chantadisal, Director of the Urban & Environmental Planning Division, Office of Environmental Policy…
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American resident, 50, dies in bike smash
PATONG: Kamala-based financial adviser Richard “Nick” Dixon, 50, died of multiple injuries after he lost control of his motorcycle on Tuesday and smashed into an oncoming pick-up truck.on a sharp curve in Kalim. Pol Lt Serm Kwannimit of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that when he arrived at the scene at around 5.45 pm, Mr Dixon, an American citizen,…
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Tuna boat burns and sinks
KOH HEY: A Taiwanese-owned tuna fishing boat, the KM Vaninda 34, caught fire yesterday about nine nautical miles off Koh Hey and sank after burning fiercely for about an hour. The Taiwanese skipper and engineer, along with the seven other crew members – one Malaysian and six Indonesians – jumped overboard and were rescued by a passing dive boat, the…
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Nightclub owners reminded to close tonight
PHUKET TOWN: The chief of police in Muang District, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, yesterday chaired a meeting attended by 75 owners of entertainment venues, at which he reminded them that no one may sell alcohol today, HM The King’s Birthday, and that the only evening venues that may open are restaurants. Col Paween, the Superintendent of the Phuket Town Police…
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Foreign musicians to be hunted down
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand pledged Monday to crack down on overseas singers and musicians as part of a wider plan to cut the number of illegal migrant workers here by up to 30 percent, a senior official said. While there were some 200 mostly Filipino singers, musicians and artists working legally in hotels and bars in Thailand, many more had entered…
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Chalerm questioned over missing guns
BANGKOK (AFP): Police questioned Thai politician Chalerm Yoobamrung and his wife Lamnao for two hours today in connection with the murder of a police officer for which their son, Duongchalerm, is the chief suspect, officials said. Chalerm and Lamnao, were questioned separately over the disappearance of two handguns from their home, one of which is believed to have been used…
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Customs officials seize armadillos
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai customs officials seized a truck carrying nearly 500 legally protected armadillos destined for the stewpots of Chinese restaurants across Asia, an official said this afternoon. Manit Wityatem, customs chief in Thailand’s southern Chumphon province, said his officers had intercepted 483 armadillos believed to have been smuggled in from Malaysia. They were worth about a million baht (22,800…
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Burmese fisherman found murdered
PHUKET TOWN: A man believed to have been a Burmese fisherman was found murdered on Thursday in deep grass near Sri Sena fishing port. Pol Maj. Pissanu Poolwong of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, had died from 14 stab wounds to the forehead, neck, chest, stomach and right side. He added that…
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